No More Jumping On the Bed
by Zyra M
Summary: A quiet moment in the Solo house interrupted by some rambunctious children and their innocent questions.


_**A/N: This one has been sitting on my hard drive for a while. I thought I had posted it somewhere before but apparently this is its debut. A response to a prompt to write a story in which Leia has an embarrassing moment. This is just mindless fun and zero substance. Also I would like to note that I did not intend to foreshadow Jacen Solo's turn to the dark side because in my own mind I choose to pretend that never happened. Enjoy!**_

It was an uncharacteristically low-key morning in the Solo house. Everyone was home for the day and there were no pressing engagements to attend to. In short, it was just what Leia needed. She was seated on the couch, next to her husband of ten years, Han. They had enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with their three young children and nobody in the family had even bothered to get out of their pajamas yet. Leia was wearing a beige, silk robe over her nightgown, and Han was wearing a plain white t-shirt and light blue pajama bottoms. She was snuggled up against his side while his fingers played absently against her back and neither one of them was paying much attention to what was on the holoset as much as they were just enjoying the relaxing morning.

The sound of their three young children playing in the next room made Leia smile. Yes, this was quite a nice morning. Han broke the near-silence. "You have any plans for today?"

She turned to look up at him. "You know I don't. Who needs plans? This is pretty nice."

He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, but the quiet moment was gone in a flash as three young children came screeching through the room. Anakin, who was three years old, came barreling through first, screaming in mock-horror in his pajamas. Next up was Jaina, barely five years old with the apparent lung capacity of a Rancor as she yelped even louder with her pale green nightgown flowing behind her. Lastly, came Jacen. This type of scene was fairly typical in their house, only this time Jacen was brandishing a large cardboard tube as though it was a lightsaber. There was also a t-shirt hanging off his head. And for some unknown reason, he had decided to chase after his siblings in only his underwear.

Once all three children were out of sight and headed back to the next room, Han and Leia exchanged looks and started laughing hysterically. "Is this the kind of thing we're supposed to put a stop to or do we just let 'em keep going?" Han said once he caught his breath.

Leia turned her head to look back over the couch and found that they had apparently retreated to their room. "Let's give them a few more minutes. I don't think anyone is in imminent danger."

Almost the moment she said it she heard another screech and turned to see the three of them flee toward their parents' bedroom.

Han sensed that she wasn't as confident anymore that there wouldn't be any damage done. "Hmmm… Mom and Dad's room has a lot more stuff that can get broken. You think it's time to intervene?"

Leia let out a sigh. "Probably," and she pushed herself up off the couch with Han following close behind.

She could hear them bouncing on the bed as they approached through the hallway, and the moment they saw their mother enter the room the three bouncing bodies immediately collapsed on the bed as though she hadn't noticed what they were doing. Fortunately for them, Leia was not in the mood to exhibit her motherly authority. She only wanted to make sure that nothing got broken. Besides, at the moment their three children were looking far too adorable to yell at.

"All right, you little monsters," she started, hoping they'd pick up the facetious tone. "Who is this scary man who chased you in here?" She asked, indicating Jacen.

"He wants to chop us up, Mommy! Save us!" Jaina shouted, sensing her mother was in on the game.

Leia threw herself in front of Jaina and Anakin overdramatically. "Stay away from my babies!"

Jacen held up his 'lightsaber' as though ready to strike. "Never! I'm gonna get you!"

"No!" Han yelled from behind him, joining in. "I'll tickle you to death!" Han knelt on the bed and grabbed his oldest son by his sides, hoisted him up and then gently lowered him to the bed before he began his tickling assault. "Help me, we have to stop him!"

Laughter erupted as everyone else joined Han. When they sensed that Jacen couldn't take it anymore, the attack eased up. Once the boy caught his breath he looked up at his father and pointed his little finger in Han's face. "Get him, guys! He's an Imperial!" Jacen yelled before everyone decided to turn on Han.

Leia almost couldn't breathe from the laughter. She loved moments like these. It sometimes made her wonder if the universe was making up for having stolen years worth of laughter from her during the war.

Han was gasping for breath and he threw his hands up in mock surrender and somehow managed to stammer out, "All right, all right! I give up. You win."

Even in jest the words didn't sound right coming from Han Solo. Once he sat up Han pulled Anakin into his lap and ruffled the boy's hair. "These are some dangerous tickle monsters we have here, Mom."

"Better not let the bad guys know about their powers, Dad," Leia played along.

Leia's glance drifted to Jacen, still with a t-shirt hanging off his head and in an effort to control the laughter, she decided to use the moment to lay down some rules. "All right you three tickle monsters. You had your fun, but from now on, no more jumping on Mom and Dad's bed, ok? We don't want you falling off and getting hurt."

"That's not fair!" Jaina said.

"How is that not fair?" Han asked. "We don't jump on your beds."

"Yeah, but you jump on yours!" Jaina responded.

Leia tucked the hair behind her daughter's ear. "Sweetie, no we don't. Why do you think we jump on our bed?"

"I can hear you sometimes," Jaina replied.

Leia's stomach lurched up into her throat. She looked up to see her husband's hazel eyes staring back at her. While she was mortified at the realization that their daughter had heard them, the look on Han's face seemed to imply that he found the whole thing quite amusing.

Sensing that she was at a loss for words, Han decided to chime in. "Honey, Mom and me don't jump on the bed, I promise."

Leia eyed him skeptically, trying to will her thoughts into his brain. _If you ever want them to think we're jumping on the bed again you will _not _tell them the real reason they are hearing what they're hearing._

"Then why does it sound like you are?" Jacen asked, still looking ridiculous in his little costume.

Leia gave Han a look that said, _Yes, genius, then why?_

Han swallowed hard, and Leia was annoyed to see that he still looked like he'd rather be laughing right now. "Because," Han began, "Because some nights me and Mom do some exercises before we go to sleep."

Leia wasn't sure that her children were going to buy that answer, although _technically_ it wasn't a lie.

"What kind of exercises?" Anakin asked.

"Oh, uh, typical stuff. Sit-ups, push-ups, squat thrusts…"

Leia hoped the look she was giving her husband could convey the fury she was feeling. _Squat thrusts? Is he serious? _But when Han looked at her again and gave her that half-smile she had become so accustomed to, she realized that the children really had no idea what he was talking about, so she decided to help out a bit and see if she could keep her husband from further mentioning thrusting of any kind during this conversation.

"Yes, see you guys get lots of exercise during the day when you're out playing, but Mommy and Daddy lots of times are stuck behind a desk all day, so we only get time to exercise at night. That's why you know you have to knock on the door when you come to see us, right?"

Miraculously, the young Solos seemed satisfied with the answer. "Right," they said, heads nodding. "Do you exercise every night?" Jacen asked.

"No, kiddo," Han said. "But we _should, _cuz it's good for us." Han looked up at Leia and winked.

Leia knew she needed to put an end to this whole thing before someone went too far and somebody (Han) said something to ruin it. "All right, you three, maybe we should all think about getting dressed. Or at least you, Jacen. We can't have you running around the house in your underwear all day."

"Aw, all right," Jacen said.

"Don't take it personal, Pal," Han said. "Mom doesn't let me run around the house in my underwear, either."

Leia still couldn't decide if she should be irritated or just amused by this entire situation. "Ok, you guys go get dressed and we'll do the same. And maybe we'll all go outside to play for a little while, sound good?"

"Yeah!" The three children charged off toward their room and the door shut behind them.

Still seated on the bed with her husband, Leia felt the heat rise to her face and brought her hand to cover her eyes. "Gods, Han! We go to a lot of trouble to keep quiet when they're around but I never really thought they could still hear us."

"Sweetheart, they have no idea what they're hearing. I'm sure they barely hear the bed moving and that's it."

"Well, either way, we're probably just going to have to stop all together."

He obviously knew it was an idle threat, but chose to offer an alternative. "Actually, it probably just means from now on we should only do it on the floor. Or in the shower. Or on the counter in the 'fresher…"

"Han!"

She felt his warm hand brush up against her thigh under the nightgown. "Maybe I should try out that outfit Jacen was wearing. Would that change your mind?"

She wanted to maintain her steely exterior, but that damn Corellian was far too good at breaking through, and she couldn't help but laugh at the mental picture of her husband wearing nothing but his underwear and a t-shirt hanging from his head. "Hmmm… not a bad idea. Maybe you can try it tonight when the kids are asleep. And when the door is _locked."_

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to do it real quiet-like." He leaned in and brought his lips against her neck, causing her to laugh once again.

"Easy, flyboy," she said as she gently pushed him away. "We have a whole day to spend with those kids, first."

"Well, it's a good thing I love them, too, or maybe I'd be upset about it."

Han kissed her quickly one more time and went to use their private 'fresher. The good news that would come of all of this, Leia thought, was that now would be the perfect time to bring up the idea of getting a bigger place to live. Preferably one with soundproof walls…


End file.
